I'm sure of the prosperous age of Kangxi and Qianlong!

Chapter 563 Yakutsk

Historically, what was really called a panda was actually the red panda, also called the Jiujie Wolf.

And its place of origin is also very close to China, near the Himalayas in Nepal. The giant panda is actually (name) Jiuzhan Magpie's Nest, because its habits and appearance are particularly similar to those of the red panda (how is it similar?), and it was even once called placed in the same family.

Although it was quickly proven that the two had nothing to do with each other, and were not even remotely related to raccoons, they had no choice but to create a new family of red pandas to house this rare species that was even more endangered than the giant panda.

However, the "love-hate entanglement" between the names of the red panda and the giant panda in this time and space should probably never happen again.

Even if it happened, the most you would think is that the emperor's naming was bad. Two different animals had the same name, but no one would really say it.

The novelty of giant pandas did not last long in Nanjing because this guy was too lazy. He only worked and ate bamboo all day long, and just lay down and slept. Only the special body color and the gimmick that the emperor named it after the ancient iron-eating beast attracted the ancients, but it was just a novelty for the common people anyway.

Once the novelty wore off, even the literati stopped coming often.

Zhu Yijiong is not surprised by this. After all, different eras have different aesthetic needs. Moreover, the Ming Dynasty did not spread the Internet in later generations, and did not use various means to build momentum for pandas. Once this novelty is gone, it will naturally become For ordinary beasts.

But it doesn't matter, Quan Dang has raised a rare animal, and the fleet to explore and open up the American colonies has also set off. When the American colonies are established, in the future we can find ways to bring back some local exotic animals from the Americas, and then use internal funds to build a royal zoo or something like that next to the Purple Mountain.

……

Yakutsk.

This place is far away from Heilongjiang, and it is built along the Lena River, one of the three major rivers in Siberia. Relying on the developed water network of the Lena River, the newly built Heilongjiang Navy of the Ming Dynasty easily moved here with almost no effort. .

Sun Ruhai, the commander of the Heilongjiang Navy, held up his telescope and looked into the distance: "Go forward and enter the next river, and you can see Yakutsk, the stronghold of your Rakshasa people in the north?"

Besikov, the Rakshasa interpreter and guide, quickly replied: "Reporting to the General, if you sail forward and enter the next river, you should be able to see the city of Yakutsk. That is not the stronghold of the Russian Empire in the north. , but the headquarters of the East Siberian Military District. The Russian Empire has only four major military districts in the entire Siberia, and this is the easternmost military district. As long as this castle is captured, the Nalena River will belong to Ming China. By then, , our Ming army can pass through the rich water network of the Lena River to attack and intercept all the remaining indigenous tribes and Cossack castles in the entire governor area. Those Cossacks and indigenous tribes will definitely not be able to stop the invincible Ming army."

Sun Ruhai nodded and asked: "How many Cossacks can there be in the city of Yakutsk, and how many defenders are there?"

Besikov shook his head: "This...I'm not sure, but there should be only more than a hundred people, not more than two hundred. The military governor area here is too far away, so it is not valued by the empire. Even those who are really The total number of Cossacks in this land, which is very close and is more favored by the nobles of the empire, is around 1,000 at most, not more than 2,000. Moreover, these Cossacks will never be all concentrated in the governor. Most of the castles in the area will be stationed in multiple small castles, otherwise the surrendered indigenous tribes may rebel."

Sun Ruhai said: "The so-called Cossacks dared to invade Ming China with just a few troops, and they were able to conquer so much land in the north. It seems that the indigenous tribes in these places are not very powerful!"

After all, Sun Ruhai did not dare to neglect at all. The Ming army had been preparing for Yakutsk for more than two years. From preparing to build the Heilongjiang Navy, to hoarding military supplies, to recruiting Sauron people to join the army, and rebuilding the Heihetun (Hailanpao) military port.

From Heihetun to Yakutsk, the straight-line distance alone is more than a thousand kilometers. Taking into account the winding river network in the middle, it can be called a three-thousand-mile journey.

Throughout the ages, only Xia Houyuan ran thousands of miles to attack Xiliang, wiped out Heshou and defeated the Han king Song Jian, and the Junggar Khanate ran thousands of miles to attack Tibet, and destroyed the king of Lhasa.

But in fact, if the Ming army attacked Nerchinsk from Yaksa, both the straight-line distance and the waterway would actually be closer.

But Nerchinsk was too close to the south, and the climate was much warmer than Yakutsk. If the Ming army captured Yakutsk, the Cossacks would have no choice. But if they capture Nerchinsk, they will have to face constant harassment and attacks by Cossacks traveling by water.

Moreover, according to Besikov, Yakutsk is also easier to fight than Nerchinsk. Because this place is too far away from the Russian mainland, the nobles do not pay much attention to it.

The Yakutsk Warlord District not only has very few troops, but also does not have a lot of food. When Besikov was first exiled, he saw the Yakutsk castle with his own eyes. Compared with the Ming Dynasty's city, it can only be said to be extremely crude. , you can easily open a gap by firing the artillery pieces together at random.

Sun Ruhai stood on the deck, wrapped in cotton clothes, and took the warship slowly around to the north of Yakutsk.

Yakutsk is located at a geographical latitude where summer is almost gone. The short summer here is not only bitterly cold, but also has cold winds blowing every day. The only advantage is that the soil will become soft in the summer, and you can take advantage of the short period of time to organize indigenous slaves to come here to dig potatoes and harvest rye (cold-resistant) grown along the river.

Those native slaves driven by the Cossacks worked quite hard. It would be better if they didn't work harder! If they don't dig more potatoes as food reserves, those Cossacks will really eat people once they run out of food.

Sun Ruhai led the fleet to search for a landing site along the river bank, and finally chose to land near a vast forest. From here, you can also see the nearby city of Yakutsk, and similarly, the dozen or so Cossacks stationed at the top of the Yakutsk city can also see them. "Boats, lots of boats!"

The sharp-eyed Cossacks quickly saw the warships of the Ming army. The huge warships that were constantly approaching the shore were obviously not owned by the Cossacks, and they should not even be owned by Tsarist Russia.

The Yakutsk warlord, who was huddled in the city, was still warming himself by the fire with his secretary: "In the next month, the temperature in the castle dropped sharply again and became severely cold. Since the war with the Manchus decades ago, The war failed and the opportunity to expand southward was lost, and His Majesty the Tsar and the country no longer paid attention to this place."

The secretary nodded: "Yes! There was insufficient food in the past two years, and the fur harvest was not very good, which almost caused us heavy losses on this land. Fortunately, this year's fur harvest is not bad, and can almost make up for our losses. No. If we continue to stay here, we will have to find a way to leave Yakutsk and find someone to take over this governor's city by the year after next at the latest."

This was also a common tactic used by the down-and-out nobles of Tsarist Russia who came to Siberia to explore and explore. Just like the thousands of ronin samurai in Japan, these down-and-out nobles also lost their territory and property long ago, leaving only an empty title.

Otherwise, these people would not have gone to Siberia, which is cold and full of permafrost. Generally, these people will not stay here for a few years. After making enough wealth, they will return to Tsarist Russia and become luxurious aristocrats again.

Not only them, but even the Cossacks will find ways to launder their wealth and go ashore, returning home to enjoy life. It's just that as a Cossack, if you don't do it clean enough when you return home, you will easily be eaten by the local nobles without leaving any bones.

For example, Khabarov, the famous Cossack in Tsarist Russia, was almost eaten by the nobles when he returned to Moscow. If the Tsar did not need to set an example and forcibly interfered, Khabarov would have had his head chopped off as soon as he returned to Moscow.

Judging from this point alone, Tsarist Russia can find common topics with the European colonists they have always wanted to be related to.

The Yakutsk warlord and his secretary were still warming themselves around the brazier when they suddenly heard a noise coming from outside the house, and vaguely heard words such as "many ships" and "enemy attack".

The warlord reacted quickly and rushed out of the house immediately, then quickly climbed up the city wall to understand the situation. He saw that along the river east of the castle, in the vast area of ​​​​the Black Forest, a large number of ships had docked and docked.

Any one of these ships can be called a big ship, and countless soldiers wearing cotton clothes got off the ship.

Yes, they are soldiers. Just from the uniform pace of the other party, you can tell that these are all soldiers, not mercenaries from outside like Cossacks.

This guy didn't have time to think about why the enemy appeared from the east and shouted: "Quick, defend the castle immediately and let our Cossack soldiers and slaves move back."

The Ming army came too fast and too suddenly. Since the failure of the Battle of Yaksa decades ago, Tsarist Russia has shrunk its expansion in the Far East and begun to turn its attention and energy to the battlefield in the west.

Not to mention the Manchu and Qing expeditions to Yakutsk, even Heilongjiang only patrolled once every two years, and had no intention of developing the land in Liaodong. Yakutsk is extremely far away from Heilongjiang, so these Cossacks are defenseless. I didn't expect that there would be enemies coming from the east, and they would come from Heilongjiang all the way thousands of miles away and kill them by boat.

The governor of Yakutsk did not think about escaping by boat, because he would definitely not be able to escape, and there would be no time. Even if he managed to escape, he would not be able to take away the food.

Summer is about to end, and the temperature has dropped sharply. Although there are rivers to navigate from Yakutsk to Nerchinsk, the desperate voyage is enough to starve and freeze them all to death. Even if they can eat people, they will not be able to survive. .

Sun Ruhai held a telescope in his hand and was watching the frightened Cossacks on the top of Yakutsk.

Besikov said: "General, this castle must be captured within ten days, otherwise the temperature here will drop sharply, and even the river will freeze. Once the river freezes, our ship will not be able to return. Even if we go, the food here can’t feed the three thousand troops we brought here.”

Siberia is really a poor place in this era. Even the Yakutsk Castle has a very short time of digging potatoes and growing food in a year, no more than a month at most.

Further north, there is almost a permafrost layer that cannot be exploded with sugar and gunpowder, so you can't even think about growing food.

Heilongjiang Dusi has been preparing for more than two years, including recruiting troops, building ships, and building a military port. In the end, after running thousands of miles and spending a lot of food, grass and baggage, they only had a few days at most to attack the city.

If we cannot defeat them, in order not to starve to death the thousands of soldiers we brought here, we will have no choice but to return the same way and wait for another thousand-mile attack next year.

(End of this chapter)